Recently I had the great privilege of leading a time of devotions for the deacons at our church... and the subject I chose, or rather the subject I felt led to was unity. I was led to a passage in 1 Corinthians 3, where Paul talks about the importance of unity amongst believers, the importance of being a community of believers together, not a bunch of scattered individuals living individual lives.
Sometimes I think that the evangelical church as a whole has lost the importance of community. For as long as I can remember, the evengelical churches I have been involved in have stressed the importance of our "individual, personal relationships with the Living God" - and don't get me wrong, having that personal relationship is important, vital even, in our faith. But, as we recognise that our faith, our salvation, is not something we achieve through adherence to rules and regulations, we reject any rules and regulations as legalism, declare them irrelevant because we are saved by our faith, not be our works, and give ourselves licence to decide for ourselves how to interpret God's rules and regulations in our own lives. And that means a bunch of Christians, believers all, but all living by different rules, different regulations, different guidelines, if any at all.
The problem with that is, we are clearly called to be a community together, a people, God's people - not just a bunch of loosely connected individuals. And for community to work, people need to be able to live and work in harmony - and that means a shared understanding of the "rules" - a clear acceptance of authority from those called to lead, and a desire to to the right thing by the community - not because our salvation depends on it, but because it is the right way to live.
More than that, we are called to be a community which includes God - we are called to have a relationship with Him, not just as individuals, but as a gathered people. And that means we have to live, not just by rules accepted collectively, but by His rules, His ways, His laws.
Of course there will sometimes be tensions - there always are in any community. And sometimes there will be hurt and pain because of that - but if we were all to stop trying to have our way, trying to understand our Christianity in light of ourselves, and instead focus on being God's gathered community, then wouldn't those tensions be less, those pains easier to bear?
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